more than it was in january 1991 when i implored tom to bring to the house floor a resolution that steve zoeller's and i had introduced to ask then president bush to engage in military action in operation desert storm to drive saddam hussein out of kuwait. i was convinced that tom opposed military intervention. i know that a good many of his caucus were strongly opposed as well. it was an exercise in political courage and personal decency for tom to agree to bring the resolution up for an open debate and record a vote under those circumstances. but he did. we had one of the most spirited but civil and informative debates in which i have been privileged to participate in all of my 38 years in congress. we prevailed in the final outcome that day but i would have been proud of the house and the speaker regardless because the house demonstrated to the world that it was truly a deliberative and democratic a- day. tom and i always struggled to find common ground when there were no issues upon which we could not agree, we could at least use common courtesy and the way we conducted our politics.